April 24--As construction to extend the Elgin-O'Hare Expressway and convert it to Illinois Route 390 continues, residents and elected officials in some communities along the new tollway have met the project with mixed reactions.
At a recent open house for community members in Wood Dale, some said the project will spur development in the region. Others, however, said the project -- which they called a "road to nowhere" that reaches neither Elgin nor O'Hare -- takes up significant space and resources and encroaches on the community.
The long-planned, $3.4 billion Elgin-O'Hare Western Access project includes an expressway extended along Thorndale Avenue through Itasca, Wood Dale and Bensenville, where it will intersect with a new north-south tollway near O'Hare's western edge.
The western terminus of the highway will remain in Hanover Park. At the eastern edge, a ramp will dead-end on O'Hare property off York Road, but travelers will have to loop around the airport and enter it from the east.
They could, one day, use a park-and-ride system to reach the eastern entrance.
When toll collection begins in 2016, the 10-mile expressway will be the most expensive road for passenger cars in the tollway system. Tolls along the highway will average 20 cents per mile for cars, while the systemwide average is 6 cents per mile.
The higher tolls reflect the cost of construction and a nationally rising average for tolls, said Rocco Zucchero, deputy chief of engineering for planning for the Illinois Tollway.
"If you're on it for a shorter distance, you're only paying for that shorter distance," he said. "It's a bit more equitable."
Many at the Wood Dale open house, including Wood Dale Mayor Nunzio Pulice, said they would prefer the new highway be a freeway, instead of a tollway.
Still, he added, the project could help attract new businesses to the area, including corporate headquarters and hotels.
Ald. Tony Catalano, 3rd, saw even greater potential for development, with the highway bringing hotels and gaming machines to the area.
"Hopefully, we're going to have a mini-Rosemont over here," he said.
But some, such as Darlene Garza, said the project was an inconvenience for local residents.
Motorists who don't want to pay the tolls will take local roads instead, making traffic worse, she said.
"To me, they're building the road supposedly to relieve (traffic)," she said. "But it's going to cost people."
Aaron Wiegel, president of Wiegel Tool Works in Wood Dale, said his family has owned property near the new highway for decades. His family lost much of the land surrounding his manufacturing plant to the construction, he said.
Still, Wiegel said, the project could bring more traffic, which would amount to free advertising for his company, which would front the new highway.
"I'm happy for the town," he said. "I'm upset as a business owner, because I lost the ability to expand."
The first section of the project, from Lake Street, or Route 20, to Interstate 290, is scheduled to be completed at the end of this year. The entire project is expected to be done in 2025.
sfreishtat@tribpub.com
